The other side of this trend--a positive one at that--is that the PC versions of these ported titles are typically anywhere from 20-30 dollars less in price. The question becomes, is the lessening of price indicative of a lesser quality version of the game? Certainly one would think a superior game version would be unlikely.

When Advent Rising was first announced, we were awed by its premise and its promises towards crafting a great gaming experience. Science Fiction laureate Orson Scott Card, known for his Ender's Game novels, was helping to craft the story for this game, promising a tale that was epic in scope--something Card is rather good at.

You are Gideon Wyeth, a soldier for the Federation. Like your famous war hero brother, you serve the Federation and live on the planet of Edumea with your fiancée Olivia. The recent appearance of a massive alien spacecraft has created quite the stir amongst the Federation as man prepares for his first contact with a sentient alien species. When you and your brother are chosen to accompany the delegation that will make contact with these mysterious beings, your day of joy fast becomes one of horror. The friendly Aureilians bring ominous warnings that a race called the Seekers is on their way to Edumea. Their goal is to make the human race extinct. Only minutes after this warning is delivered, the Seekers arrive and Gideon is thrust into not only a battle for his life, but the life of the human race.

Gameplay
Critics blasted the XBOX version of this game due to the poor frame rate on the console. When major conflicts would occur, the frame rate would drop drastically, seriously hurting the game amongst players and reviewers alike. Fortunately, as expected, the PC version has completely removed that problem and the game is actually playable.

This game plays and is set up almost like a 3 rd person version of a game like Halo. Getting rid of the need for saving, this game makes use of the now fairly standard system of checkpoints spaced throughout the levels which allows you to respawn when you die--something you will do on many occasions while playing Advent.

Much like Halo, you are able to fight with 2 weapons at a time as well as to make use of the grenades you will find scattered throughout the levels. Another similarity is how you are only able to carry 2 weapons on you at a time, needing to drop one in order to pick up a new one. The weapons used are also fairly standard, ranging from pistols and rifles to grenade launchers and rocket launchers. The weapons used by the Seekers are also fair game and run the table from plasma rifles to smart rocket launchers and sniper rifles.

One of the unique aspects of Advent Rising is how your weapons can actually be upgraded through proper usage. These upgrades typically make for more powerful and accurate shots and are necessary for unlocking the secondary firing modes for the weapons. This actually forces you to consistently experiment with the weapons in order to ensure that you are an efficient killing machine. Advent Rising features a great in-game tutorial-esque scenario where you learn how to use the weapons against simulated opponents. I am a huge fan of games which incorporate tutorials inside of the game and especially not in a blatant or patronizing fashion.

The battles in this game are fairly intense and range from one or two Seekers to over a dozen on screen at once. You will find yourself dying quite regularly at first, especially since you are forced to rely upon the med stations scattered throughout the regions. If you are injured, you can regain a certain amount of the health: about ¼ of your life in the beginning and you will be able to refill your life entirely by the end. This again brings to mind the armor setup in Halo. This also ensures that you will be hiding behind cover on numerous occasions. This of course is not recommended for too long though, as the enemy AI is fairly good about attacking you in numbers and flanking you while you try and hide. This makes the already intense battles much more exciting and lends to the difficulty of the game.

At a certain point in the game, you are introduced to powers that can best be described as psionic. They range from telekinesis, energy shields, energy bolts and time shifting. The game does an excellent job of teaching you to use these abilities within the context of the game levels while not taking away from the overall pacing. Once you have mastered these abilities--and trust me it will take some time--you will find yourself a one-man wrecking crew. These abilities can also be upgraded with time and also have alternate abilities. I will not discuss all of them, but I will mention the two most useful abilities that I found, the surge and the lift powers.

The lift power is basically your standard telekinetic ability. It allows you to target objects and throw them around. This comes in very handy throughout the game and is used when fighting both boss monsters and standard troops. There is one stage which takes place outside of a spaceship and when you see how awesome it is to use the lift power and fling the enemies out into space, you will start to see the big picture in terms of your powers in this game. It does bear noting that the targeting system used in this game creates some control problems with this ability. I wish that they had used a lift power similar to that used in the game Psi-Ops, which has certainly set the bar of telekinesis in modern games.

The surge power was by far my power- and weapon-of-choice. With surge you shoot out a blast of force, similar to the Star Wars Force push, which flings enemies away from you. This power, when fully charged, can seriously injure or kill the Seekers you face. You can also use the alternate surge ability to steal weapons from the hands of your opponents. Surge, once mastered, will allow you to drive your opponents away from you at all times, ensuring that you aren't killed by the often devastating melee attacks that most of the Seekers possess.

One of the more questionable gameplay elements I found was the flick-targeting system. This used the mouse wheel to allow you to target an enemy and help focus your fire on them. This system was flawed and difficult to use at times, especially when you need total precision with your lifting ability. I wish that they had taken into consideration that the PC platform is the home of keyboard and mouse control and allowed for old fashioned targeting. This targeting was possible, but not when using your Lift power. However, having said all of that, the targeting reticle was often the only clue you have to the current health status of your opponents and this made it necessary to use in certain battles.

I would be wrong not to mention the vehicles and cannons that can be used in-game. The first vehicle is the Scythe, your very standard dune buggy vehicle. This fast and rugged buggy is used throughout the various levels, both outside and inside the areas you progress through. Although the physics aren't as good as Half-Life 2's, these portions of the game are quite fun. The control is mainly through the mouse, and once you master it you learn to loom forward to the driving portions. There is also an enemy vehicle, a kind of hover tank that is also used, especially during the later game stages. This vehicle can hover above water and features a rather strong cannon and durable armor which allows you to both dish out and receive a lot of damage. There are also stationary cannons which are used in a few different areas. These typically force you to face off against waves of enemy soldiers as well as enemy ships.

Finally, although I played Advent Rising with a mouse and keyboard, the game does support most gamepads.

Graphics
Unlike the XBOX version, I was able to play the PC port in various different graphical resolutions. With an X800 pro I played at a 1280 resolution throughout the game, with Anti-Aliasing kicked in and maximum textures. With all of this set up, I never saw one dip in the framerate, which was easily over 60 fps, a drastic improvement from the console version.

This is truly one good looking game, featuring beautiful backgrounds and some of the best lighting effects I have seen since Tron 2.0. The character models were very well-done and featured enough variation that you weren't always killing the same enemy. It seemed the further you proceeded in the game, the more varied the enemies became.

There was one graphical issue I noticed, at least with the X800 Pro. On certain stages, usually stages with water, a certain amount of distortion was seen, specifically in the water and around your character. In some of the later stages, I actually suffered a crash if I took too long in one of these areas. While not a game breaker, it was annoying having a game crash to desktop 3 times in the span of an hour.

Sound
This game features one of the best musical scores I have heard in a game in quite some time. So much so, that I actually ordered the official soundtrack to hear both the musical scores, as well as the song from the credits, entitled “Greater Lights” by Charlotte Martin, a remarkably talented vocalist who also helped score the game.

This is a game of large explosions, and by large I mean huge. From the booming explosions that send rubble down on your head, to the belching of lasers or plasma from your weapons, this is a game for a surround sound setup. With my Dolby 5.1 setup, I had the neighbors taking part in my gaming experience as well--much to their chagrin I'm sure.

The aspect of this game that was dead on was the voiceovers. The voice acting in this game was of the quality that I felt almost as though I was watching--or rather playing--a movie. There was genuine passion in the voices of Gideon and Marina and it all helped in the crafting of this tale. It's rare you actual feel genuine emotion while gaming and it is something that was expertly done here.

Multiplayer
This game does not feature a multiplayer component and as such will not be rated for it.

Replay Value
Advent Rising, depending on your personal skill in gaming, will last you somewhere between 10-15 hours ( I clocked in at just over 13). While the early portions of the game offered you a few chances at making choices, overall this is a fairly linear game. While certainly fun enough to play through again, there is really nothing to keep you coming back after you finally finish the game. Having said that, Advent Rising is one you will actually feel compelled to complete and it truly is a great feeling to not only beat the game and see the culmination of the story (make sure you watch the credits completely).

Advent Rising does have a medium learning curve which will have you growling in frustration quite often until you learn to master both the game and its controls. The psionic powers you learn will become second nature eventually and don't be surprised if, like me, you stop using your weapons once you have your powers.

Conclusion
Advent Rising was actually a tougher game to review than I imagined. It is always easy when you enjoy a game as much as I did this one to get carried away and score it high, solely because it was fun. Still, there is more to a game than whether or not I liked it and all of its parts were factored in to the final scoring.

What ultimately sets Advent Rising apart from other Sci-Fi themed video games is the cinematic quality of its storytelling. Orson Scott Card truly touched upon a great story with this game and I certainly hope to see parts 2 and 3 of the Advent Rising Trilogy within the next few years. This game featured one of the best stories I have been witness to in some time and it's the way it developed, through cutscenes and excellent voice acting, was truly something special. While burdened in a few spots with a bad targeting system and some graphical bugs, for the price of $29.99 you really cannot find a better value for the PC.

Key High Points
- Intense and epic storyline featuring action packed and open levels
- Phenomenal sound effects and musical score
- Large variety of weapons and powers makes for various ways through the game

Key Low Points
- 2 words: “Flick Targeting”
- Small graphical glitches and a slightly vexing crash to desktop bug